The following links contain background and information about the survey and its impact on future space exploration.The map and chart on the right shows the date and locations of Town Hall discussions about the survey.

The National Research Council (NRC) conducts studies that provide a science community consensus on key questions posed by NASA and other U.S. Government agencies. The broadest of these studies in NASA's areas of research are decadal surveys. As the name implies, NASA and its partners ask the NRC once each decade to look out ten or more years into the future and prioritize research areas, observations, and notional missions to make those observations.